Last Night in Soho - Cheap Thoughts

Edgar Wright has been nostalgic for the past for a while now, he is often just much more subtle about it, his work is heavily influenced by films and music of the mid-20^th century, however now he’s chosen to make it part of the text beyond mere references. Last Night in Soho presents us with that idealised rose-tinted view of a 1960s London, where the lights shined bright, the music was all grand and everyone dressed to the peak of fashion. Naturally of course this is to cover up the dark underbelly of both the social ladder of the time and now, that once you begin to climb you have the choice to carry on climbing regardless of how fatigued you are, or let go and plummet to your doom.

Wright is known as a very visually prolific filmmaker and while that is naturally still present here – every shot is filled with colour and gloss to create such a mood that can be lively and then shift to disturbing within a single movement – It is not as directly in your face as his other work. Any other Wright film you can see and know it’s him, if I did not know this was a Wright film, I never would have guessed it. Since Baby Driver he’s been peaking out of his comfort zone to experiment with other genres and with this one markedly is more subdued, he allows his shots to linger and create a discomfort, all the while making even the darkest of shots as beautiful and stylised as they can be.

There’s a fragility to what we’re watching, Ellie (Thomasin McKenzie) is a small fish forced into a very big pond, intimidating enough, but when she finds herself at the centre of attention of those much bigger fish, it becomes that much more disheartening. Even when the attention is not drawn to her, but to Sandy (Anya Taylor-Joy) who Ellie voyeuristically attaches herself to and connects to her to make her dilemmas her own even when she is merely an audience member, much like us, yet also like us, and like the best films, we are not just an audience member, when a film works we are also that person on screen. Wright builds a level of dread on these two levels, we fear for Ellie to get out of the situation unscathed and yet when she is alone, surrounded by men who wish to take advantage of her, we are just as alone and vulnerable.

Wright’s attempts to stretch his legs is a very welcome change, even if there are some growing pains to come with it. Structurally this is one of Wright’s weaker scripts, missing his usual bullet proof structure and quotable dialogue, even his infamous foreshadowing – though present – is given a backseat in favour of last-minute twists & turns, very nearly becoming a film about victim blaming though thankfully dodges that bullet, yet should never have been on the firing range to begin with. It is also perhaps a bit too indulgent in the past, though it is yes critical of the cultures of the time, the emphasis on how modern day sucks just as much, except back then everything was better because they had better music and style and whatnot feels very much “Life was better in my day” nonsense many like to uphold as an undeniable fact, and certainly some people will walk away from this film with their only thought being “Yeah life was better in the 60s” despite all the murders and whatnot.

-Danny

Dune - Cheap Thoughts

“It’s not an easy task to adapt Dune the novel”, that’s a sentiment that has been expressed since this adaptation was first announced, and there is fair reasoning behind it. Dune’s status as a classic work of science-fiction and incredibly influential on the genre as a whole has in some ways reflected back on it negatively, now many elements of the novel have become standard tropes for the genre that can sometimes make it seem basic and predictable, even worse it’s a story that thrives on its details rather than the grand picture. Two elements that work against adapting it into a film for modern audiences. Combine that with the prior adaptations less than stellar reception and director Denis Villeneuve’s back catalogue of work which consists of well-produced and received works of art but not exactly high in financial returns, it’s amazing this film got green-lit to begin with.

All of this is to say, the newest adaptation of Dune brings exactly what one would expect knowing this information prior. Villeneuve has concocted an incredibly well-crafted film that presents a story with beautiful cinematography and production design to create such a visual delicacy that is at times grandiose in scale and in power, it combines the fanatical world of fiction with the realism of the science. It is at times gorgeous and other times disgusting, all purposeful and a wonderful treat for the eyes. There are few sci-fi films to be held in comparison, it truly creates an iconography that holds up to that first syllable.

This is all a way of saying Villeneuve’s presentation holds up what is at the end of the day a very neutral story, to no fault of its own. As stated this is a very influential book, which puts the film in a difficult position to either be disloyal to its source material for the sake of originality, or stay true at the risk of being derivative…of itself. Villeneuve made the right choice of sticking to the latter, as one of the goals this film clearly had in mind is to give Dune fans a truly great and loyal adaptation of the book, to provide a visual component to the original text. Helping him uphold that is a truly great cast that bring such nuance and history to these characters even when the script is unable to support them.

Dune the film is best described as a very expensive arthouse picture, many would argue it would not the big box-office hit it would need to greenlight a sequel to complete the story, and yet Lionsgate already announcing a part two mere days into the film’s release shows promise of the studio wishing to tell a story first and profit second. It is unheard of for this to happen. This is not to say Dune is a revolutionary work of cinema, but it is rare for a film of this size to have such clear authorial intent behind it, to allow the filmmaker’s thumbprint to be clearly seen on every frame. This is not going to be a film to appeal to every audience member and good riddance, allow it to be divisive if that allows it to exist.

-Danny

Venom: Let There Be Carnage - Cheap Thoughts

There’s a level of respect Venom: Let There Be Carnage has earned. The original Venom film is – to put it eloquently – an on-fire garbage can, and yet it was the exact right on-fire garbage can for a lot of people. It was messy and silly but also comedic and violent, and even for some, kind of sexy (Lots of people wanna fuck Venom, we can’t escape it). This of course only happened due to a case of too many cooks in the kitchen and no one having a clear vision of what they wanted Venom to be. Now that Sony have a clearly defined demographic they want to shoot for, they rather than try to course correct lean into the fire and the joyous sexy mess it is.

Let There Be Carnage is at the end of the day the story of two couples going to war with each other, and I mean that in the sense that they are far more blunt on the relationship status of Venom and Eddie Brock. Our lovebirds did not get their happily ever after yet as we see them fight, struggle to compromise and even temporarily separate due to their arguments. Venom himself even going on a drunken bender, finding himself in a gay bar where he literally says he is “coming out of the closet”. This film is not subtle nor should it be. This is another level of respect the film earns, while it is not the ideal representation it is certainly…a different kind and it at the very least is very blunt in its Queer Coding of the dual protagonists. Unlike it’s older cousin the MCU who is so desperately wants to be a part of and yet that is a franchise so watered down and unwilling to commit to an image or theme for the sake of consistency both internally and externally that its first openly queer character was an unnamed cameo from the director followed by a vague non-committal suggestion that Loki might also be queer in an easy to edit around conversation for internationally bigoted markets. Venom is at least blunt about it, which is why it earns respect, not praise necessarily.

Not to say that alone saves the film, it is still a sloppy mess, regardless of intentional or not, the adjective of choice is still there. Particularly with the fight scenes which offers vague rules of powers or damage to the two symbiotes of blobby goo stabbing each other with no clear indication who’s winning or how. At least this time round it’s a black blob vs a red blob so I can for the most part tell who is who. Carnage himself lacks his trademark hyperactive extroverted psychopathy that makes him an entertaining character, which seems bizarre that this film thought that might have been too silly. Instead, he is simply a big red blobby thing that goes around killing. At a brisk 97 minutes the film certainly moves at a brisk enough pace, enough to keep you entertained without overstaying it’s welcome, yet perhaps too fast and no character arc feels like it moves at a natural pace, and the answer doesn’t have to be make the film longer, just alter the scenes chosen, Stephen Graham’s character for example is mostly superfluous, as enjoyable as he is as an actor to see appear, he is very unnecessary.

The Venom Franchise has solidified itself as this trash fire of a series and more power to it, it knows what it is and tries to make sure everyone is having a good time. If you weren’t a fan of the first one you won’t care for this, but if you enjoyed the messy nature of the original, this one is all that and more.

-Danny